You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

At this point, like with any bad sitcom, Americans can guess what President Barack Obama is going to say on any given topic without much difficultly. Billionaires this, private jets that, “investments,” and so on. But there is one idea that is particularly annoying; one that is repeated often by politicians on both sides.

“It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country – the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or who you love.”

Actually, there is no such bargain, nor has there ever been, so there is nothing to restore. It seems that this is the sort of merit-based guarantee of success that politicians like to make. There is no assurance that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities – whatever Obama believes those duties may entail – that you’re going to get ahead in life. Plenty of good people fail and plenty of terrible people succeed. Get used to it. There’s no Fairness Bunny.